


Water Under the Bridge

by Wow_girl1244



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Romance, Season 3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21817684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wow_girl1244/pseuds/Wow_girl1244
Summary: Marinette can't pretend she doesn't want Chat Noir. Not anymore.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 10
Kudos: 160
Collections: MML Secret Santa 2019





	Water Under the Bridge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Avelyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avelyst/gifts).



> My story for avelyst on tumblr for the ML Secret Santa.   
> I hope you enjoy it!   
> Thanks for reading!

Marinette couldn’t say when it had happened, just that she woke up one day _knowing_. She sat up in bed gasping, dreams of green eyes and black leather just out of reach and she scrubbed her face.

“Are you okay,” Tikki asked.

Marinette let out a startled laugh. “I’m in love with Chat Noir.”

Tikki sighed. “Oh, I thought it was something important.”

“This is important!”

“Not if it was already obvious!”

Marinette groaned into her pillow. She was in love with Chat Noir and it was obvious. Great. Then there was the other problem, which was that she was also in love with Adrien. She chose to ignore her problems as she rose from bed and went about her day.

She ignored her problems all day and she liked to think she did a pretty good job at ignoring them. That is, until Chat Noir showed up on her balcony later that evening.

“What are you doing here,” she asked, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

He seemed stunned and looked around. “I come here every night. Am I…are you talking to me?”

She huffed and turned around. A blush was starting to creep onto her face and she didn’t want him to see.

“Are you okay, Marinette?” A hand gently landed on her shoulder. There was bit of concern in his voice, but mostly it was bewilderment.

She jumped away. “I’m completely fine! You’re fine! No, you’re not okay!”

Chat’s hands were raised in surrender as his wide eyes watched her. “I’m…not?”

Marinette groaned as she leaned forward and buried her face into he’s chest. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, but it was muffled and came out sounding more like, “Fime Morry.”

He rested one hand on her back and drew comforting circles with his thumb. The other hand came up to rest on the back of her neck. “What’s going on?”

His touch was only gasoline to the fire, though, and she wasn’t sure she could come up with an answer when his hands were on her like that. “I-I…long day.”

He hummed. “Anything I can do to help?”

She leaned back the slightest bit to peer up at him. He stared down at her, eyes soft and that kind smile on his face. She loved him so much her heart hurt. “You being here is enough."

His mouth gaped and a blush settled on his face as well. Then he was smiling again, a different one than before. “Then I promise to always be here.”

Well. There went any hopes of ever moving on from him. She buried her face back into his chest. “Okay.”

He chuckled. “Okay.”

He didn’t know how she felt and she didn’t know how he would react if he ever found out, but for now, it was enough.

But then a month had passed and every day Marinette thought it was impossible to love him more, but, somehow, her feelings grew everyday. And she was starting to think…she groaned into her pillows.

She didn’t want to even allow the thought into her head, didn’t want to get her hopes up. But she was starting to think…that maybe Chat loved her back…as Marinette.

It was simple things really, but they added up. Like when he cracked a joke that made her double over in laughter and when she finally stopped she looked up to see him watching her, that same smile on his face, eyes on her like he wanted to never forget that moment.

Or when she was explaining a new design to him, and she would pause to catch her breath and he would lean over and gently brush her hair behind her ear and then his voice was so soft, a whisper, the wind, but there was so much behind that touch.

Or every night, before he left, he would lean in close and brush his lips against her cheek before pulling away the slightest bit, hands on her waist and then lean his forehead against hers. “Goodnight, Marinette,” he would say, voice as soft as a promise, and then he was gone. Marinette’s legs had gone to jelly many times after that.

She was blushing now, just thinking of it all, and it was driving her crazy. She wanted to grab him by the bell and yank him down and kiss him. She wanted to hold him in her arms while she whispered to him she loved him. She wanted to love him freely, as he deserved.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t tell him or do it or anything because she was the guardian and she had responsibilities and, the truest answer of all, she was scared.

A knock sounded and she looked up to see Chat waving down at her, a goofy smile on his face. How could anyone be scared of loving him? No, that wasn’t what she was scared of. She was scared of losing him, scared of Chat Blanc repeating itself, scared of everything that could go wrong. And she couldn’t explain it to Chat because that would be her revealing herself.

She wanted to reveal herself to him. But she couldn’t. Her heart wasn’t the deciding factor in this. She had to be responsible.

He was leaning against her balcony when she walked out. He turned and grinned at her. “Took you long enough.” His words were teasing.

She bumped his shoulder as she rested next to him. “Sorry I’m not a fangirl that chases after you at the first glimpse of you.”

He leaned closer, a smirk on his face. “Are you sure you’re not?”

Marinette rolled her eyes, but a blush was creeping onto her face. How was it that he always made her blush? “I’m positive.”

“Maybe I like that about you.”

She turned to him, eyes wide and found him already facing her. She forced out a laugh. “Okay, Chat.”

“What?”

She crossed her arms. “You can’t just say stuff like that!”

His grin grew and he leaned even closer to her. “And why not?”

“Because I-because I,” she sputtered as her face continued to redden. She punched his arm.

“Ow, Marinette,” he grabbed his arm, but he laughed. “Why did you do that?”

“You know why! Stop making fun of me!”

He reached toward her and tipped her head back, his touch fire to her skin. He shook his head, that stupid grin still on his face. “I’m not making fun of you, Marinette. Not right now.”

She pushed him away. “Why are you being so smooth right now? And stop smiling like that!”

He laughed again. “You think I’m being smooth?”

“Chat Noir, I-,” she stopped and buried her face in her hands. “I can’t say it, but you obviously know, and I can’t say why I can’t say it, but you already know so this is basically me saying it, okay?”

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Marinette, what are you saying?”

And what did he keep saying her name like that? It was making her overheated. She looked up at him and allowed him to look into her eyes. “Chat Noir, I…” She didn’t finish, but the teasing glint left his eyes and she knew he understood. “Yeah. That.”

“Oh,” he mouthed. The great superhero of Paris was at a loss for words at last, it seemed. There really was a first for everything.

“You knew?”

He nodded slowly. “It’s different knowing than knowing, you know?” Somehow, she did. But he didn’t say more and she figured that maybe he didn’t feel the same.

Turning, Marinette walked to the railing and leaned against it. “I’m sorry. I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship. This won’t be awkward for me, so you don’t have to feel bad for me.”

“Why would I feel bad for you?”

She turned to him, eyebrows furrowed. “Because you don’t feel the same.”

“What makes you think that?” He said it like it was a ridiculous question that he never expected he would have to ask.

“Stop teasing me, Chat. You didn’t say it back, so you obviously don’t feel the same.”

Chat Noir walked over to her and cradled her face in his hands. He was so close she had to lean her head back to look into his eyes. “Marinette, the most beautiful, sweetest, smartest, bravest, funniest, most incredible girl… _you_ …you just told me, well, not really told me explicitly, but you just told me you felt that way and it’s all I’ve wanted and it’s perfect. I just thought…I thought that if your feelings were clear to me, then how could mine not be? How could you not understand just how I feel for you? But, in case it hasn’t been clear Marinette, let me say this: I feel exactly the same way about you.”

The breath left her and one of his hands wrapped around her waist, holding her in place. He seemed to know exactly what she needed when she needed it. “Oh,” she mouthed.

He smiled and his thumb brushed her cheekbone. “Yeah.”

It was everything she had ever wanted and it was everything he had ever wanted. But she had responsibilities. She wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and pull him in and kiss him until neither of them could breath. But she made herself pull away.

He arms dropped to his side and he watched her.

“But you’re a superhero. And I’m a civilian. And this can’t…we can’t…I _want_ to, Chat. So incredibly badly, you have _no_ idea…”

There was a fire in his eyes that heated her up and she realized that he did have an idea because he wanted to just as badly. This was so hard. She held up her hand. “Friends?”

He took a step forward. He took her hand, but he didn’t shake it, instead pulling her closer until they were chest to chest, their hands trapped in between their bodies. “Friends.”

But as they stared at each other, though neither of them knew what would come, they both knew there was no more hiding their feelings for one another.


End file.
